In optical connection between a plurality of optical elements in an optical circuit package, or optical connection between optical fibers led out of a plurality of optical circuit packages or optical circuit devices on which an optical circuit package has been mounted, an optical connector or mechanical splicer is generally installed between ends of optical fibers led out of optical elements, optical circuit packages, optical circuit devices and/or the like to connect the optical fibers, or the optical fibers are mutually connected by fusing connection.
However, the current optical connector requires PC (physical contact) connection for connecting the optical fibers. For reasons of that, it is necessary to insert and fix the optical fibers into a ferrule made of zirconia, glass, ceramic or the like and then polish the optical fibers. Therefore, a process for connecting the optical fibers is considerably complicated, and it takes a long time for the polishing step.
On the other hand, the connection by the mechanical splicer in which no polishing step is required and the fusing connection requires positioning the optical fibers, whose claddings have been exposed, in a V-shaped groove or within a capillary. In such a case, there has been a possibility that the claddings of the optical fibers may be damaged. In particular, when the optical fibers are positioned within a glass capillary as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 160564/1999, the claddings of the optical fibers have come into contact with the capillary, and so there is a high possibility that ends of the claddings of the optical fibers may be damaged. Another problem is that the connecting operation takes a long time and it causes a poor yield rate.
The above publication and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 264914/1999 show that a slot is provided in a capillary to fill a joint between the optical fibers with an adhesive or refractive index matching agent. In such a case, the mechanical strength of the capillary becomes very weak due to the provision of the slot, and the slot portion may be broken during a connecting operation.
In the prior multi-fiber connectors, it becomes difficult to align the optical fibers to each other as the number of optical fibers increases. Because the distance between the optical fibers and through-holes into which guide pins are inserted for alignment increases and it causes a large errors on positioning. Further, when some ferrules have a different thermal expansion coefficient to each other, there is a possibility that the relative position of the holes into which optical fibers are inserted shifts depending on environmental changes, thereby increasing an optical loss.
As a method for solving the above-mentioned problems, it has been proposed in Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-053484 that two optical fibers are connected by providing two connecting members having each a through-hole, into which an optical fiber has been inserted, bringing them face to face with each other, and sliding then the connecting members. However, since this method does not use a member for keeping the position of the connecting members holding the optical fibers, it is impossible to keep distances between the ends of optical fibers to be connected equal, and so it is necessary to adjust the distance for every connection between pairs of optical fibers. Moreover, upon carrying the connecting members provided each with an optical fiber or connecting them, discrepancy in position is caused between the center axis of the optical fiber and the axis of the through-hole of the connecting member. Accordingly, there is a possibility that the optical fibers are damaged when the connecting members are slid to the optical fibers, which reduces the handling workability of the connecting members under connecting operation. Still more, in this method, an aligning member and a fixing member are used for aligning and fixing the connecting members. Therefore, there is a possibility of increasing cost because of using many parts. In addition, since parts for connection are not unified, the connection process becomes complicated. No proposal is shown as an optical fiber connection component to unify some parts.
The present invention has been completed for the purpose of solving the above problems in the prior arts. An object of the present invention is to provide an optical fiber connection component which is easy to adjust the distance between the optical fiber ends upon aligning the optical fibers and, particularly, those coats of which have been removed, in case of connecting optical fibers led out of the edges of optical elements, optical circuit packages, optical circuit devices, etc., and which hardly damages the optical fibers during carrying or connection, and saves the number of parts and the cost. Another object of the present invention is to provide an optical fiber connecting method using said optical fiber connection components, and to provide an optical fiber connection structure formed by said method.